Part 54

It was known that the ruler of Edessa was a person who preferred ease and comfort, to such an extent that when Imad ad-Deen Zangi attacked his kingdom, he chose to leave his city and stay in Turbessel on the west bank of the Euphrates. If we add to that the fact that the Muslims surrounded this principality on all sides, and that it was separated by the Euphrates from all the other Crusader principalities in Syria, we will be able to form a general idea of the factors which contributed to its downfall. It is worth mentioning that this principality posed a great danger to Muslim transportation routes between Aleppo, Mosul, Baghdad and the Seljuks of Rum in Asia Minor; it also formed an obstacle that prevented the establishment of Muslim unity in Syria and Mesopotamia because of its continual interference in favour of Imad ad-Deen Zangi's opponents among the Muslim emirs in the region. Thus conquering it became necessary in political, military, economic340 and religious terms. Operations that led to conquest Imad ad-Deen Zangi took advantage of the circumstances mentioned above and devised a trick that would allow him to reach his goal in the shortest way. He knew that he would never be able to achieve his aim in Edessa so long as Joscelin and his forces remained there. Hence he focused on finding a way to make his opponent leave that capital. He headed towards Amid, making a show of intending to besiege it, as if that was his only goal. At the same time, he sent his spies to the Edessa region, so that they could send him immediate information on the movements of its ruler. As soon as Joscelin realized that Zangi and his army were busy in Diyarbakir and did not have time to attack the Crusader positions, he left his capital at the head of his troops,341 after taking precautions by making a truce with Kara Arslan, the ruler of Hasankeyf who had sought refuge with him after Zangi threatened his emirate.342 Then he headed to Turbessel, on the west bank of the Euphrates, where he set aside any sense of responsibilities and focused on his physical pleasures, leaving the defence of Edessa to its people, the Armenians, Syriacs, Nestorians and Jacobites, most of whom were merchants who had no experience of war and fighting, whilst mercenaries took on the task of defending the citadel.343 Imad ad-Deen Zangi's informants came and told him the news that he had been longing to hear, so he immediately headed towards Edessa, moving fast by riding camels, and mobilizing every Muslim in the region who could carry a weapon to join the Jihad to make the word of Allah supreme. He was soon joined by hordes of volunteers, with whom he surrounded Edessa from all four directions. In the beginning he tried to pursue all peaceful means, hoping to achieve his aim without being forced to brandish the sword. He made contact with the people of Edessa, offering them security and asking them to open the gates before he found himself forced to destroy the walls of their city and evict its people, but they refused to accept this offer of security.344 At that point, Zangi intensified the siege, using huge siege engines which he had brought with him to destroy the walls in order to deny the Crusaders the opportunity to join forces to save this important position. When Joscelin heard the news, he sent word asking for help from all the Crusader principalities in Syria, but no one responded except Melisende, the heiress of Jerusalem, whose help came too late.345 He also tried to enter the city, or send help to support its defenders, but he was prevented from doing so. On 26th Jumada II539 AH, twenty-eight days after the siege began, part of the fortress collapsed as the result of the concentrated strikes to which it had been subjected, and the Muslim forces entered the city.346 The citadel surrendered two days later, and the Jacobite Bishop Basil handed Edessa over to Zangi.347 'Imad ad-Deen Zangi's policies in Edessa After conquering Edessa, Imad ad-Deen Zangi did not think that it made political sense to destroy such a city.348 He issued orders to his troops, telling them to stop killing, capturing and plundering, and to return whatever prisoners and booty they had seized. They returned everything, and nothing worth mentioning was missing. After that he issued further instructions to restore order quickly to the city and to rebuild whatever had been destroyed during the long weeks of fighting. He appointed those whom he thought most qualified to organize the city's affairs, take care of it and strive hard to serve it, and he promised its people that they would be treated well and with justice, aiming to win over its original inhabitants, the Eastern Christians, against the Catholic Crusaders, which is confirmed by the fact that he ordered that a number of Catholic churches be destroyed but he left the Eastern churches alone.349 Factors which helped 'Imad ad-Deen Zangi There are a number of factors which helped Imad ad-Deen to liberate Edessa, among which were the following: a) The growth of the Islamic Jihad movement prior to his rule, which enabled him to learn from the experience of Muslims in this field.